Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

11/25/2011 at 7:32pm

Image by Mark Wagner

LSU's Kenny Hilliard fights for yards against the Arkansas defense. Hilliard finished with 102 yards as the No. 1 Tigers racked up 286 yards on the ground against the Razorbacks.

BATON ROUGE, La. — There was a stretch in the first half where Bobby Petrino found himself wondering why LSU was passing so much against the Arkansas defense. In running up an undefeated record and establishing themselves as the best team in the country, the Tigers had used a strong running game to physically and mentally wear down opponents.

And the third-ranked Razorbacks entered as the nation's No. 70 run defense. That left Petrino on the sideline questioning why he wasn’t seeing more early in the game against his third-ranked Razorbacks.

LSU (12-0, 8-0) didn’t leave anybody wondering where its running game was after halftime. And the Tigers left little doubt which team was the best on the field in the first meeting of Top 3 teams at Tiger Stadium since 1959.

“I was even surprised a little bit at how much they threw the ball in the first half,” Petrino said of the Tigers throwing for 126 and rushing for only 76 before halftime. “They wore us out. Our defense was on the field a long time in the second half.”

LSU held the football for 9:35 in the third quarter and 11:50 of the fourth. During the time of possession the Tigers pounded away at the Razorbacks, getting 210 of their 286 yards on the ground in the final two quarters.

It was the running game that did to Arkansas what Tyrann Mathieu’s 92-yard punt return and a pair of turnovers couldn’t — crushed the Razorbacks’ will and eliminated any chance of pulling off a victory.

Zach Hocker’s 29-yard field goal pulled the Razorbacks within 21-17 as they withstood a 21-point barrage from the Tigers. At that point it looked like another classic in the making for a series that had been decided by one point the last six years with the largest margin of victory (before Friday) being last year's 31-23 Arkansas win.

But Arkansas couldn’t handle what came next as the Tigers’ running game went to work.

LSU put together scoring drives that milked the clock, kept the Arkansas offense off the field and wore down the Razorback defenders. LSU’s final four scoring possession included drives of 10 plays-76 yards, 9 plays-45 yards and 8 plays-41 yards.

It was clear from quarterback Jordan Jefferson’s 48-yard touchdown run with 10:09 left that Arkansas was finished. That two-play, 50-yard drive pushed the Tigers up 38-17.

Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson was in no mood to expound on what took place. Asked if the defense wore down he had a short, simple response.

“Ya think?”

Defensive end Jake Bequette didn't want to speak for all of his teammates, but acknowledged the obvious. Arkansas’ defense was worn out by the time Jefferson burst up the middle on a designed run and broke free.

“I can't speak for anyone else, but obviously you can't stay on the field that long for those sustained drives,” Bequette said. “That's their M.O. that's what they want to do. They want to leave you on the field and get four or five yards at a time. We weren't able to stop them from doing that.”

LSU got more than four or five yards at a time. Thanks to Jefferson and a stable of backs that Petrino has been searching for since he arrived (besides the injured Knile Davis, of course) the Tigers averaged 6.2 yards per rush.

Jefferson’s big run pushed his average per carry to 7.6. Michael Ford had 8.7 yards per carry as he ran for 96 yards on 11 carries. Kenny Hilliard ran 19 times for 102 yards — never recording a negative carry.

Jefferson also passed 29 times, completing 18, for 208 yards. He was 12-for-16 in the first half.

Arkansas, which came out fast and seemed to be focused despite the death of teammate Garrett Uekman last Sunday, ended the afternoon in a way that made it easy to forget the Hogs were up 14-0 at one point. By the time it was over, though, Bobby Petrino was left taking exception to LSU throwing to the end zone or kicking another field goal late in the romp.

For the Razorbacks it was a bit of deja vu. Alabama had run for 197 yards and while the Crimson Tide didn’t use as many weapons on the ground, they did prove to be too much to slow down and managed to play keep away to keep the Arkansas offense out of sorts.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to stop it and get the win,” Tramain Thomas said.

And, unfortunately, the Razorbacks are no longer in national title consideration. Meanwhile, the two teams that outscored them 79-31 and pounded out yards on the ground are likely headed for a BCS title showdown.

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ArkansasSports360.com editor Chris Bahn has won several awards you’ve probably never heard of, but are kinda cool. Not, however, as cool as his two beagles, Hoops and Sugar, who you might occasionally hear join Bahn during his multiple weekly radio appearances in Fayetteville, Little Rock, Jonesboro and Fort Smith. For more details on those appearances follow CBahn on Twitter and check our Facebook page for ArkansasSports360.com.

Tagged: Bobby Petrino, Jake Bequette, Tramain Thomas, Willy Robinson, Jordan Jefferson, Les Miles, Arkansas Razorbacks